Ergenekon trial will continue tomorrow. Not much expected from tomorrow’s session. There is a round up on Ergenekon trial here. Then there is another set of round up on Constitutional Court’s decisions that were released last week. Finally another set of round up on DTP leader’s last week statements and Kurdish issue in general…

The Ergenekon trial began last week. There is an expectation that some circles will try to sabotage the trial and dilute the facts. Propounding the views of those who oppose the trial prosecutors is also being seen as part of this plan.

Whoever fails to purge its gang will be purged by that gang. Whoever fails to dismantle its Gladio will be dismantled by that Gladio. Whoever fails to beat its junta will be beaten by that junta. That is the rule.

First, Enis Berberoğlu said to me, when we met at the airport, “Mr. Gülerce, it seems we both are members of a secret organization.” He was apparently referring to references to my name in the Ergenekon indictment.

Vendors who have set up shop outside the Silivri prison while the first Ergenekon hearings take place there have turned the area into a kind of fairground, hawking everything from meatballs to scarves. Yet most seem unaware of both the high-profile suspects and organizational chaos

The court met for the second day to consider the Ergenekon case (see blog entry below for description of Ergenekon; for a brief English introduction to the trial, click here.) after a chaotic Day 1 in a courtroom much too small to accommodate the many dozens of accused, witnesses, journalists and spectators. Today, under heightened security and a greatly reduced media presence, the accused were officially identified, and their lawyers mostly negotiated, strutted, and sounded off. The court will meet again on October 27. (click here for article)

“Human Rights in the Era of the AKP” by Howard Eissenstat (click here for full text):

…Turkey’s stance on basic human rights is complex. On the one hand, Turkey is a functioning parliamentary democracy with regular, free, fair elections in a region where this is still a rarity. Despite important limitations, the Turkish press is both broad and diverse. If most of the mainstream Turkish media tends toward populist nationalism, there are a number of influential sources (mostly print) that persistently and successfully critique the great and the powerful.

Thursday in a reasoned opinion that it had fined the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) for undermining Turkey’s secular principles instead of shutting it down because of the party’s efforts to gain Turkey membership in the European Union and to improve women’s rights…

Nihat Ergün, chairman of the AK Party’s parliamentary group, said Friday that the opinion confirmed the AK Party’s success in pushing democratization and the EU process.

From Bianet: According to the information given by a prisoner’s relative to the Free Radio, the female prisoners who are imprisoned for sentences having to do with the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) were attacked by the male prisoners who are imprisoned for non-political crimes in Gebze Closed Prison. The attack occured between October 17 and 18.

The Constitutional Court’s decision showing the reasoning behind the annulment of the constitutional amendments which allowed the lifting the headscarf ban has been finally published in the Official Gazette.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan felt, for whatever reason, that he had to back Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ’s angry speech last week. But I am sure that by now he must have learned — by evaluating the negative response he has received — that today’s Turkey is not even last year’s Turkey and that the society changed fast in a positive sense.

I come from a military family, and like all able-bodied male citizens I served in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) as a reserve officer. If I were to be recruited again, my rank would be first lieutenant.

The Constitutional Court, which has evolved to become a Jacobean check and balance on the democratic preferences of the nation and which openly stole the basic powers and authorities of Parliament with its headscarf decision, is again in the spotlight and facing criticism.

The Constitutional Court, which earlier this week announced its opinion in a previous ruling to reverse a law adopted in Parliament that would have allowed Islamic headscarves to be worn on university campuses, has drawn widespread criticism for overstepping its authority.

For human rights advocates in Turkey, all political alliances are necessarily alliances of convenience. The reasons for this are myriad, ranging from the particular militancy of Turkish nationalism, to the bitterness of Turkey’s struggle with Kurdish separatism, to the remarkable trust that Turkish culture continues to bestow on Devlet Baba, the "Father State." Under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is frequently framed as an Islamist Party and just as frequently as a liberal one, supporters of expanded human rights in Turkey have won significant victories and have many, many reasons for concern.

With the long-awaited reasoned decision for reversing constitutional amendments seeking to lift a ban on wearing headscarves on university campuses issued on Wednesday by the Constitutional Court, Turkey enters a new phase of political paralysis — a situation that may lead to severe consequences.

The Constitutional Court’s reasoned decision on the annulment of the constitutional amendment lifting the headscarf ban at universities has been released. As predicted, the amendment was found contrary to laicism.

The Constitutional Court, having previously annulled a broadly supported constitutional reform package that would have lifted the longstanding headscarf ban at Turkish universities, released its reasoned decision on the case on Wednesday.

If there is a judicial case with 86 suspects, 46 of them arraigned, how big should the courtroom be where these defendants could face a judicial proceeding compatible with the international norms of justice, the established procedures of trial as well as the law on the procedures of trial? Do we have an idea how many people might be required to be present in that courtroom during the hearings? For example, can we think of having separate hearings for the 46 arraigned suspects? How appropriate will it be to divide the suspects of a trial into two groups and have separate hearings?If the trial with 86 suspects is really the “most important ever” judicial proceeding in the Republican history of

When the Ergenekon case began the other day, we heard that another case, which took place 30 years ago, was annulled due to the statute of limitations. So, we lost the opportunity to question the source

The Constitutional Court has explained that lifting the ban against headscarves at universities will, in short, disrupt the public order, constitute religious exploitation and nullify one of the founding principles of the republic.

When a nation sees murders carried out for the sake of "protecting the state," when these murders are covered up and labeled as "unsolved," when coups are attempted for the sake of "protecting the state" and then later covered up as well, when the coup schemes are never accounted for, when that which happens in a nation — just like 30 years ago during the March 16 massacre — is left to sit in the dark for the sake of "protecting the state," when the formation of illegal organizations is ignored for the sake of "protecting the state," and if the fact that these organizations are working to carry out political murders and provocations with the aim of sparking a coup is completely overlooked, such a nation cannot be a democracy.

What is our inner Ergenekon? It is really our perception of the state, a perception that develops as the result of a long period of indoctrination that begins in elementary school and continues throughout your life, through school, work and every arena in which you come face-to-face with the state.

For the past many days, several cities are on fire … Crowds are demonstrating, burning tires, throwing stones at security forces, devastating shops, disrupting public order … In Istanbul, alone, some public offices were torched and tens of cars were burned. At Doğubeyazıt town in the eastern Ağrı province, a demonstrator lost his life; scores – including policemen and journalists covering the developments – were injured at events that followed his funeral. Why is this widespread violence? The demonstrators claim they are protesting the beating up of Abdullah Öcalan – the chieftain of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, terrorist gang serving a life sentence without

It is no secret that Turkey has been facing problems in effectively gathering intelligence on the movements of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern provinces of the country mainly due to ill-defined policies on arms procurement.

Pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader Ahmet Türk, who is among the doves within the DTP ranks, came under harsh criticism for unexpected remarks during his party’s parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday.

The stand adopted by the Democratic Society Party (DTP) when it comes to terror and violence does not reflect democratic sensitivity. In fact, they seem to see tension and violence as absolute necessities for politicians.

The DTP has tossed into the ring the allegation that Abdullah Öcalan has been tortured while imprisoned at İmralı. Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin has said that this allegation does not reflect the truth.

Whether you are talking about the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 or the terror incidents in Turkey’s Southeast, the same realities always emerge in the end: Belief in democracy and politics always decreases during periods when terror reigns, because any sort of dominance by violence arouses the idea in the public that democracy and politics do not in fact have the ability to solve problems.